THE Game

THE game was played Saturday - the greatest rivalry in sports (not just my opinion, it was voted so by ESPN). Ohio State continued its recent domination over Michigan, winning its 4th game in a row and 6th in the last 7 meetings. HBO debuted a documentary about the rivalry last week; it gives a pretty good history of the game. There is true hatred between the 2 schools. I get more nervous about this game than any game of the season. In fact, I don't remember being this nervous for games I actually coached in back in my coaching days. I can't tell you how much the game means to fans of each team. Briana came home Friday and said her teacher told the class how no one in their house could say the word "Michigan". On her own, Briana said we should have the same rule (I can't tell you how proud I was). So, now that team is known as M in the Turner househould (Coach Hayes also refused to say Michigan and referred to them as the school up north).

With the win, Ohio State won the Big 10 for the 3rd straight year (2nd in a row outright) and will be appearing in a BCS bowl game for the 5th time in 6 years. Even with all of this success, a football player I have in class told me something interesting (and very true) a couple of weeks ago. He said the football players think the fans take the team for granted. They (the fans) expect the Buckeyes to win every week and don't really appreciate the hard work they put in for every game. The team lost last week to Illinois, the first regular season loss in 29 games (I got to take a former student from University High School in Waco to the game - Chris Castillo). The letters to the sports editor this week were brutal. Several mentioned how the team "embarrassed" the fans and others questioned how good Coach Tressel really is. It is amazing how spoiled Buckeye fans are; some really don't know how good we've got it. Just ask fans of some teams who would die just to have a winning record and go to a bowl game. I was disappointed after the loss, but I realize what a truly great run we have had. We lost the Heisman Trophy winner (Troy Smith), a 1000 yard runningback (Antonio Pittman), and 2 receivers drafted in the 1st round (Ted Ginn, Jr. and Anthony Gonzales). Most "experts" picked us to finish 3rd in the Big 10; Coach Tressel might have done his best coaching job since the national championship in 2002-03.